- Questions for Markwayne Mullin
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko“Kristi Noem has been the worst head of Homeland Security in the department’s 20-year history, and it really isn’t even close. Her tenure was marked by reckless abuse of power, brazen lying and disinformation, white supremacist propaganda, and shameless corruption. Prior to Noem, we had never seen a cabinet official shoot a propaganda/weird fetish video from a foreign prison known for torture and abuse. Prior to Noem, we’d …. never seen a cabinet official celebrate the illegal killing of unarmed U.S. citizens. … Trump’s nominee to replace Noem is Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a mixed-martial-arts fighter turned plumber turned politician. Mullin is probably best known for challenging a witness at an oversight hearing to a fight, jamming his fingers into the nostrils of sleeping colleagues and their spouses, and projecting so much masculinity that he requires the names of two men.” (03/13/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/questions-for-markwayne-mullin
- Blame Trump
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman“What’s with all the people who are trying to blame someone — you probably know who — other than Trump for the U.S. air war against Iran? Has he no agency? He’s had it in for Iran for a long time and nearly went to war in his first term, setting the stage by tearing up the rigorous (and superfluous) nuclear-inspection deal the Iranian government had entered into with Trump’s immediate predecessor, Barack Obama. (Iran has not tried to make a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. and Israeli intelligence analysis, and the late Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei, had issued a fatwa against such weapons.) … This is Trump’s war. Claiming that Israel is solely responsible and that Trump is a helpless marionette is invidious and could incite horrendous domestic consequences. That prospect should not be taken lightly.” (03/13/26)
- America needs immigrants as much as they need liberty’s blessings
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will“Two dissimilar government agencies have inadvertently combined to clarify the immigration debate. Stomach-turning excesses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have turned many Americans’ abstract political preference into something uncomfortably concrete. And the Census Bureau has demonstrated that the nation needs immigrants as much as they need the blessings of American liberty.” (03/13/26)
- Why Does the Division of Labor Matter?
Source: EconLog
by Brianne Wolf“The division of labor increases production and makes it more efficient by dividing the separate tasks of making an object among different individuals and thereby simplifying the job each person must perform. On the economic side of things, this innovation that Smith recognized helped spark the Industrial Revolution, and was a precursor to comparative advantage …. As part of Gen Z, the generation of side hustles and multitasking, my students should appreciate the division of labor more than most, and yet when I think about most of them, the marvel that is the division of labor — that we don’t have to make each and every thing we use in our daily lives from start to finish ourselves or pay the price for someone else to do this — is lost on them.” (03/13/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/why-does-the-division-of-labor-matter
- Trump’s war is a gift to Iran’s hardliners
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Emad Khatami“Given the Islamic Republic’s internal dynamics, war could produce the opposite of what many expect. Rather than weakening the regime, the war may strengthen its most committed supporters — the ideological networks often labeled ‘hardliners’ in Western media — while marginalizing the broader political middle, inside and outside the system, that favors non-violent and gradual change. The Islamic Republic has long relied on a relatively small but highly committed constituency that sees the survival of the system as a political and even moral duty.” (03/13/26)
- The Inevitability of Self-Driving Cars
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Stephen Weese“In the US, we love our cars. Nearly 92% of households have access to a motor vehicle. We have car shows, car racing, car dealerships everywhere, and even TV shows about cars. It’s an accepted part of our society. In a geographically expansive country like ours, cars are essential for many. Along with car culture, we also have a cultural acceptance of the dangers and even fatalities that come from car accidents. The US (human) accident rate is approximately 2,000 per million miles driven. Around 40,000 people are killed each year in auto accidents. … What if we could reduce the number of injuries and fatalities to 50% of what they are now? Or even further, what about 80%? Would it be worth it to switch to self-driving cars then? Interestingly enough, preliminary numbers from Waymo indicate that they already are 80% safer.” (03/13/26)
https://fee.org/articles/the-inevitability-of-self-driving-cars/
- Government Doesn’t Collect Too Little, It Spends Too Much
Source: Cato Institute
by Veronique de Rugy“When tax rates rise, taxpayers work less, shelter their money and invest differently, compressing the tax base until the yield reverts to its historical equilibrium.” (03/13/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/govt-doesnt-collect-too-little-it-spends-too-much
- The Nazi Philosopher Behind the Postliberal Right
Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness“[F]or all its posturing as a conservative sea change, postliberal theory has more in common with Bush-era foreign policy than it cares to admit (as we are now seeing in Iran). The main intellectual link comes in the person of Carl Schmitt, an eccentric German legal theorist from the early 20th century. Once a leading conservative academic figure in the Weimar Republic, Schmitt fell into disrepute after 1933 when he joined the Nazi Party and wrote the legal justifications for Hitler’s seizure of power. Schmitt’s involvement with Nazism rightfully wrecked his postwar academic career, yet he managed to retain a stream of academic interlocutors who saw flashes of brilliance, or at least provocative insight, in his writings on constitutional theory.” (03/13/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/13/the-nazi-philosopher-behind-the-postliberal-right/
- The War on Iran Is Dumb. Here’s Why.
Source: Antiwar.com
by Alan Mosley“War with Iran is being sold as ‘strategy,’ but it looks a lot like habit. A familiar pattern repeats: vague objectives, elastic legal theories, and a confident promise that the costs will be contained. Then the bill arrives anyway, in blood, money, and credibility. In this round, the costs are already visible in the most predictable place: energy. Fighting that threatens traffic through the Strait of Hormuz does not just ‘hurt the other side.’ It shakes a chokepoint that, in 2024, carried about 20 million barrels per day of oil, roughly 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption. Markets do not care about speeches. They price risk, and they pass it along to households and firms. Calling this ‘a small price’ is not analysis. It is marketing” (03/13/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/alan_mosley/2026/03/12/the-war-on-iran-is-dumb-heres-why/
- The End of Pax Americana
Source: The Daily Economy
by Michael N Peterson“Accelerated by Trump’s tariffs, the EU has signed or updated trade deals with Mercosur, Indonesia, India, and Mexico. Other countries across the Anglosphere like Canada and New Zealand are inking new free trade agreements in an effort to diversify beyond the U.S. In other words, as America raises its trade barriers, the rest of the world is lowering theirs, further undermining its standing as the global economic powerhouse. Meanwhile, the US dollar — America’s enduring monetary advantage — is losing its luster as the world’s reserve currency. … While Pax Americana fades in the rearview mirror, that doesn’t mean the US can’t find its way back to the top of the world’s rules-based economic system. But it will require more than a Supreme Court ruling.” (03/13/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-end-of-pax-americana/
- The State’s Favorite Fallacy: The Cudgel in a Suit
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thiago VS Coelho“The argumentum ad baculum — appeal to force — is, in plain terms, an attempt to secure assent not by evidence but by threat. As one line of analysis puts it even more starkly, ad baculum often isn’t really an argument at all; it’s a tactic offered instead of argument to shut the exchange down. That is not an occasional vice of the state. It is the state’s operating system. … when the state ‘argues,’ its syllogism is always lurking in the background: Do X (pay, register, comply, cease, confess, submit), or else.” (03/13/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/states-favorite-fallacy-cudgel-suit
- Trump Puts Midterms Above National Security
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“As one might expect, waging war in a critical chokepoint in the world’s supply of petroleum — and many other goods — has been disruptive, with oil prices spiking and consumer gasoline and diesel prices following. President Donald Trump had at first resisted calls to tap oil reserves in the United States and the other 31 members of the International Energy Agency, but then came TACO Wednesday, which follows TACO Tuesday and precedes TACO Thursday — if it is a day of the week ending in the letter ‘y,’ then you can count on it: Trump Always Chickens Out. His resolve to hold the line on oil reserves lasted about as long as his relationship with Stormy Daniels. … The way the graph lines are moving right now, Trump’s approval ratings are poised to dip below his BMI more or less presently. So, the oil taps will be opened.” (03/13/26)
- In Space, Regulators Seek To Boldly Go Where No Bureaucrat Has Gone Before
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) faces delays in meeting its schedule for returning to the Moon, according to a new report by the agency’s inspector general. Nevertheless, the project moves forward and remains largely within its budget — a testament to the abilities of SpaceX and Blue Origin, the two private companies participating. In fact, space exploration is largely a private effort these days, with profit-seeking firms developing not just launch capability but also technology for mining Earth’s natural satellite. Unfortunately, opening new commercial opportunities — even in the depths of outer space — is like ringing the dinner bell for bureaucrats and would-be regulators.” (03/13/26)
- Outsourcing Life
Source: Law & Liberty
by Nadya Williams“You can outsource to machines not only such tasks as lawnmowing and vacuuming and dishwashing and laundry, but (with the aid of AI) also thinking, idea-generation, writing, art, music, and (brace yourself) romance. Smart bassinets will rock your baby, while AI will respond to your emails — and your recipients, in turn, can use AI to read these emails and write back, cutting out the human middlemen and women from the conversation altogether. Meanwhile, robot pets and other AI tools offer companionship for lonely seniors who have no one else to care for them, and AI therapists are available to assist with the mental health crises of our age. Soon, if predictions hold true, we will also be able to outsource all driving to self-driving cars, pregnancy to artificial wombs, and all childcare and teaching to AI. … Serious ethical dilemmas follow from the outsourcing of many of these tasks.” (03/13/26)
